Bulgaria's PM Appoints Deputy FM, 2 Deputy DefMins

Interim Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdzhikov has appointed career diplomat Boyko Mirchev as Deputy Foreign Minister, the government says.

Stefan Petrov and Mihail Mihaylov has been appointed as Deputy Defense Ministers.

Mirchev already assumed the office once - in 1997-1998 - under an elected cabinet. He has served as attaché to the Embassy in Kabul, Chargé d'Affairs at the Embassy in Seul and Ambassador to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Other offices he has assumed include that of Bulgaria's permanent representative to ASEAN. Since 2016 he has been Director General at the ministry's European Affairs directorate.

Stefan Petrov, in the military since 1980, has among his key appointments that of Deputy Chief of Staff at the NATO Allied Air Command (2010-2013) and Chief of Staff at the Joint Forces Command (2014-2015).

Mihail Mihaylov, a former expert at the Foreign Ministry's Human Rights and International Humanitarian Organizations directorate, quit the public sector ten years back to manage and offer logistics to a private company.